US territory of Guam in the Pacific smashed by Typhoon Mawar ...

25 May 2023

The US territory of Guam has been smashed by the powerful Typhoon Mawar, lashing the Pacific island with high winds and heavy rain, tearing down trees, walls and power lines.

Key points:Typhoon Mawar made landfall in Guam at about 9pm last nightAuthorities have so far reported no deaths or injuriesGuam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island

The typhoon, the strongest to hit the territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002, briefly made landfall on Wednesday night as a category 4 storm at Andersen Air Force Base on the northern tip of the island, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Doll.

Videos posted on social media showed fallen trees, a flipped ute, solar panels flying through the air, parts of a hotel's exterior wall crumbling to the ground, and storm surge and waves crashing through coastal reefs.

Electricity to most of the island was knocked out, and the Guam Power Authority said it was too risky for repairs crews to venture out, leaving residents facing a long, dark night of noisy and dangerous weather.

"It's going to be scary. There's no electricity unless you have a generator [or] partial generator. Reassure your children," Brandon Aydlett, a National Weather Service operations officer, told a briefing, according to The Guam Daily Post.

Picture of a man riding a bicycle through flood water

Authorities ordered people in low-lying areas to move to higher ground.(Reuters: Romeo Ranoco)

At one of the island's many hotels, the 30-floor Dusit Thani Guam Resort which houses around 300 guests, desk clerk Casey Hattori said the lobby was flooded with a foot of water.

Outside, trees snapped in howling wind.

"I can hear the walls shaking. The wind is super strong. I can hear it whistling as it comes through the cracks of the doors," Ms Hattori told AFP.

Fearful tourists were evacuated from flooded rooms to a sixth-floor ballroom, she said.

Authorities were preparing to assess the damage, Mr Aydlett said. 

"It looks like a scene from the movie Twister, with things just thrashed apart," he said. 

"Lots of Guam is dealing with a major mess that's going to take weeks to clean up," he added.

J Asprer, a police officer in the Dededo precinct in northern Guam, said before dawn that he had not received any reports of injuries but several police cars and personal vehicles had been damaged by debris, and uprooted trees made some roads impassible.

Most of the calls overnight came from worried people off-island who were unable to reach family members, Mr Asprer said.

"We told them we'll have to wait until the storm clears up a bit," he said.

picture of flood affected area in Guam

Strong winds and heavy rain knocked down trees, walls and power lines in Guam.(AP: US Coast Guard)US navy deployed to help recovery effort

The US navy has ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group to head to the island to assist in the recovery effort.

The Nimitz, along with the USS Bunker Hill, a cruiser, and the USS Wayne E Meyer, a destroyer, were south of Japan and expected to arrive in Guam in three or four days, said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements not yet made public.

The weather service said the storm made landfall at around 9pm on Wednesday in Guam, which is about 6,115 kilometres west of Hawaii and 1,575 kilometres east of the Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

"It was on land for about 30 to 35 minutes before it moved back off shore," Mr Doll said.

By early Thursday, Mawar was centred 121 kilometres north-west of the island and 137 kilometres west of Rota, Guam's neighbour to the north, moving west-north-west at 13 kilometres per hour.

Mawar, a Malaysian word that means "rose", could threaten Taiwan next week.

Ahead of the storm, Guam governor Lou Leon Guerrero ordered those living in coastal, low-lying and flood-prone areas to evacuate to higher ground.

The highest point on the island is Mount Lamlam in the south-west at 406 metres.

But much of the beachfront tourist district of Tamuning, where many resorts are located, is close to sea level.

Picture of people walking on the road under rain

Typhoon Mawar headed for central Japan after smashing US territory of Guam in the Pacific.(Reuters: Mayama KM/KI)Defence personnel evacuated

Ms Guerrero said an emergency declaration approved by US President Joe Biden would support the mobilisation of resources into Guam, which is "especially crucial given our distance from the continental US".

Guam is a crucial hub for US forces in the Pacific, and the Department of Defense controls about a third of the island.

Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, Joint Region Marianas commander, authorised the evacuation of defence personnel, dependents and employees from areas that were expected to be affected. 

The military said it moved its ships out to sea as a standard precaution.

It also sent aircraft off the island or placed them in protective hangars. 

About 6,800 US service members are assigned to Guam, according to the Pentagon.

AP/AFP

Posted 1 hours agoThu 25 May 2023 at 2:09am, updated 13 minutes agoThu 25 May 2023 at 2:58am

Read more
Similar news
This week's most popular news